Bet Under Shadows
by magi06rose
Summary: Ladybug, Chat Noir, Alya and Nino get trapped in a maze by the Akuma, Lady Araneae. Chat and Nino are separated from Ladybug and Alya, though the Nino and Alya use this situation to get answers from their heroes. Implied Ladynoir plus Adrinette (mild).
1. Beginning

Hello everyone. Hope everyone is having a good day wherever you may be.

This is a request fanfiction I made for Brokenheart05. Unlike my previous fanfiction planning, this is a multi-chapter fanfic that's all been written out already. However, I feel like it's too long to have it all in one chapter, so I'm making it into 3 chapters. It'll all be up by tonight (UTC-08:00/Pacific time), so look forward to it.

If you would like a request fanfic as well, feel free to pm me the idea and any other specific details you want. However, I won't do any NSFW's (implied NSFW is ok depending on request).

Enjoy, and stay miraculous!

* * *

" **You're fired!** " an old man yells in front of a woman with a suit and microphone in hand. She clutches onto it tight as she feels the instant pressure growing rapidly on her mind.

"B-But sir, it wasn't me. I swear-"

" **SILENCE!** " She winces back; the people around them look at her in mixed feelings.

"I've seen your kind before" her bo- her _former_ boss explains. "You think you can do whatever you want just to get to the top, but you know what girl, cheating will never get you anywhere in show business, especially when trying to ruin someone else's career."

He points to the back as the audience moves to see another woman with a fancy dress weeping on the ground.

"H-How… How could you? Furthermore, we were partners. I thought we were friends!"

"No! It wasn't me! Please believe me! Someone- **Anyone!** I didn't do it."

"Hmph, useless" He turns back and heads towards the exit. Before he leaves, he left one last statement.

"Be glad - at least I'm doing you a favor of all the 'good work' you did, before your reputation gets any worse. Leave, and never come back here." Soon enough, almost everyone leaves except for one man who was grabbed by the woman in the dress. Hesitantly, he helps her up. The woman then sneers once up at the lonely weeping woman.

"Hehe, serves you right. It was nice working with you!"

"How... How dare you?" She hesitantly asks. "I told you… This was my lifelong dream…"

"And it makes it even better for myself! Look at you, cowering down on your knees with that pathetic look on your… everything actually. Ho-Hohohohoho~" She continues to laugh at her former colleague's pain while the woman ever so fails to hold back her tears.

"O-Oy. Stop it Hilda. This isn't right."

"Shut up Todd" she whispers with a dangerous tone, making him jump back. Nevertheless, she still holds on to his hand as she looks back to the woman with the smug grin back on her face.

"I guess since this is the end of our 'partnership,' I can also give you one last piece of advice Aria." Aria gasped. She honestly didn't want to hear what, but her curiosity got the best of her and lifted her head. She instantly regretted it.

"Only the strong like I can reach the top of the top." She lets go of Todd's hand for a moment towards Aria and violently pulls her hair to make her look eye to eye. "Fools like you, who think they can be at my level though 'hard work' and 'never giving up,' are just **begging** to be **kicked** **around** like the weaklings you are."

Aria hated the pain of her roots prying from her scalp and the kick in the stomach she later received, but what she hated the most, even more than the woman in front of her, was seeing Todd at the back seeing her in her current state. After coughing a bit from the blow, she glares back at Hilda.

"I… **I hate you!** "

"Hmph, good, you're starting to get it" Hilda replies. She whispers in Aria's ear before letting her go, laughing all the way as she leaves the studio with a worried Todd in tow. All there was left was a screaming Aria in tears who continued to weep as she lies on the ground when a butterfly heads to catch it's prey.

.

.

.

.

.

 **You may as very well be lucky to have the chance to dust off the webs of spiders.**

* * *

Marinette walks by the Kidz+ Studios to watch Adrien's first live broadcast on modeling (because of his father) with their friends when screaming occurred inside the building.

"What was that?!" Marinette questions herself. Tikki comes out from her purse.

"Marinette! I think an akuma is inside there."

"An akuma?!" The two briefly look back again from more screaming before looking back at each other.

"Let's go Tikki!"

"Right!"

They leave to transform in a more private place before Marinette barges in as Ladybug. She immediately sees the place darker than usual with tints of green creeping up from the walls, and spider webs all over. Some of them held unconscious people up; Ladybug tried to rescue one of them but to no avail.

"Man they're stuck there really tight. What on earth happened in here? How long has this been going on?" Looking around once more, she finds the doors further into the building are blocked by more webs except for one. She then thought about her partner, hat Noir, and wondered if he was aware of the new situation. Ladybug picked up her yoyo to contact him, however she struggled to receive any connection in the building and became worried on the trapped people and a bit of the new victim.

"No way, Ladybug?" The heroine immediately turns around at her name to find her classmate, Alya, running to her. Alya briefly stops to take a breathe, but soon after beams up to Ladybug in relief.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're here Ladybug! Wifi went down when the akuma appeared, and there was no way to get out of here."

"What? But i got in through-" She points to the entrance of the studio, but found it shut tight with my webs all over. "No! Those screams earlier must have been a trap for me. Alya, can you explain to me what happened?"

"Y-yeah!" Alya nods. "I was talking with my friends upstairs when Lady Araneae appeared. She's the one you're looking for…"

* * *

A while ago:

"Don't worry Adrien. You'll do great out there."

"Easy for you to say Nino. I'm a model; I'm not necessarily required to be behind on any camera other than the kind for photo shoots. And people will be seeing this in real time all over Paris. What if I mess up along the way?"

Alya and Nino, along with Marinette who had yet to arrive, to see Adrien on a talk show as a rising, successful young model by his father. They're, at the moment, trying to ease the nerves of their popular friend, who's sitting on a bench with a new attire different from his everyday wear, and bottle of water tightly clutched in his hands.

"Adrien, you claimed to have practiced everyday at home since if got this role from your father, and you even studied what to say during lessons." Alya explains. She stood with Nino in front of Adrien. "You're lucky Madame Bustier let you off that one time for not paying attention in class."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Setting the bottle aside, he rests his head on his hands and sighs. "I can't mess this up. Father will kill me if I did, and I rather face that than going out in public again for being stupid in front of thousands of people."

"Dude, you are not stupid" Alya retorts.

"Mmmm~ I don't know…" Alya glares at Nino, though he was too deep in thought to notice it until he snapped his fingers. "Wait, I got it. It's the hair for sure. You do look stupid because of it. It throws off your whole 'Adrien-y' aura" Nino scruffles Adrien's hair, which was previously stylized for the broadcast. Adrien jumps back and smacks Nino's hand away, trying to fix his hair back to its normal style.

"Hey! That took over an hour to fix."

"Well it doesn't matter now, and never will." Nino shakes Adrien a bit as he rests his hands on Adrien's shoulders to make him look in his eyes. "You're awesome, and you are going to show just how awesome you are out there Mr. Adrien Agreste."

"Yeah" Alya says, pumping her fist near herself. "We'll be here to cheer you on, so relax and enjoy yourself, or we'll send Nino here to be you."

Nino lets go of Adrien, and dramatically takes off his glasses with a smug grin on his face. "Hey. Big time model Adrien Agreste here. How's it going?" Clicking his tongue with a wink at nothing, Adrien and Alya laugh at Nino's bad impression till their sides hurt.

"Oh my gosh. Hahahahahaha... Thanks Alya, Nino." Adrien replies with a nod, finally smiling after calming down. He takes a quick breath and stands up to fix himself a bit more, giving himself a better look of confidence.

"Hey Adrien, we'll be on in 10!" the director of the show says, and all three teens nod

"Thank you" Adrien says. The director walks away, and Adrien takes a another, more deep breath. "Ok, I think I'm ready guys."

"Good luck out there Adrien" Nino says with a double thumbs up while Alya nods.

"Marinette is also coming right?" Adrien asks.

"Yeah. She texted me a while ago that she's almost here" Alya replies.

"That's good. I would love for all of my closest friends to be here." Alya and Nino smile at this, and Adrien was about to say more when a woman comes up to them.

"Adrien, sorry, but we'll need to borrow you for a minute."

"Ok. I'll be there." Adrien gives a quick nod to his friends before making his way to the stage. Nino notices Alya's small chuckle to herself.

"Man Marinette will freak out when she hears about this" Alya exclaims, shivering in excitement, while Nino nods.

"Still got a lot of work to do though. Poor boy has yet to notice anything."

"Did you ever find out about who he's crushing on?" Nino shakes his head.

"I'm kinda leaning on Ladybug still because of the Jackady incident, but I don't want to mistaken it for admiration. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be anyone else in mind,"

"Hmm? I think we should still include Ladybug as a potential rival. A reporter must be open to all kinds of assumptions."

"I'm not a reporter though," Nino crosses his arms, "and it's not like we're telling this to anyone."

"Well consider it training for me" Alya adds. "Plus, we're trying to get Marinette and Adrien together. At the very least, Marinette is more comfortable around Adrien, and let's not forget that Marinette has a better chance than Adrien since he spends more time with her than Ladybug."

"Or unless… Adrien is Chat Noir!" Nino hits his fist with the palm of his other hand as the idea strikes his mind, though Alya didn't seemed amused.

"...Really?"

"What?! Don't tell me you never thought about it?!"

"Well I did once-"

"He even has the same hair color!"

"There are a bunch of other blonde guys Nino. Besides, Adrien is a lot more reserved and less cheeky than Chat, don't you think?"

"I don't know about the cheeky part since I've yet to talk to the man one on one, but he is more of a "do-it-at-the-moment" kind of guy than Adrien's "think-before-action" kind of thinking."

"Well, not that I don't like Chat Noir, but I'm more focused on Ladybug. Why don't you give it a try?"

"... Maybe. If I get the opportunity." Nino answers a bit after. Alya chuckles out loud with a grin.

"Great ready to feel the burn of a reporter's world junior reporting intern."

"Hey, exactly whose intern is it I'm under?! And hey, how hard can it be?"

Just then, the lights went off. People gasped, and a few shouted in surprised, while Alya and Nino stayed still.

"Woah, why are the lights off?" Nino asked out loud.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this." Alya answers.

The lights, without warning, went on again, though they find that the room has changed. Some people, including Alya and Ninom gasped at how the walls turned green, and a few screamed to find an unexpected creature in the scene.

On stage appeared but a lone woman in purple with long brown hair, short fangs, and a pair of weird sunglasses that made her seem to have another pair of eyes on her forehead. Her head secured a top hat with a cartoonish spider face on the side, and her outfit consisted of a black twin coat on top of a white collared shirt and a black leotard, plus fishnet stockings and black high heels. In particular, the collared shirt had a design around the waist that made it look like she had extra arms crisscrossing in the area. On one of her black gloved hands rests a black and green microphone that she started speaking into.

"Is the camera on? Great! -ahem- Greetings everyone! My name is Lady Araneae, and I'll be your host for today's broadcast! Tee hee 3" She poses with a wink in a cutesie pose, but everyone in the same room as her were too shocked to react.

'No way! What happened to Adrien?' Nino thought as he side glances to Alya.

'Marinette is also on her way here… Darn it, I hope she hasn't come inside yet.' Alya thought while glancing at Nino as well.

"Boo boo! I thought people would like that. Oh well." Lady Araneae quickly recovers. "Now then, I would love to get to the main program, but the stars have yet to arrive folks! Stay tuned for this once-in-a-lifetime special: Lady Araneae's Close-up One on One with Miss Ladybug and Mr. Chat Noir!" She jumps towards the camera and whispers to it, though everyone can still hear her through the mic: "Are Ladybug's powers actually lame? Will we get to see what's under the mask for the badly dressed duo? Stay tuned!"

In that moment, the backdrop falls behind Lady Araneae and Chat Noir came out with his staff prepared for a fight.

"Meow. Hope I didn't ruin the fun yet?"

"Hmm? Oh no, of course not!" Lady Araneae gleefully replies.

"There's sure no harm in arriving early, my little kitty cat." She turns back to face him. "But first, let me make some small preparations first."

"Preparations?!" Chat asks, getting into a fighting stance.

"Yeah." She raises both her arms. "After all," she smirks, "it's not appropriate for the audience if we don't have a stage first. And all of our guests haven't arrived yet!"

With a snap of her fingers, webs start shooting from the air, and people start to lift into the darkness up above. Alya, Nino, and a couple of other people dodged this by jumping to the ground as Chat Noir watches the rest fly into nothing.

"No!" He starts charging into Lady Araneae. "What did you do to them?!" He tries to swing a hit on Lady Araneae, but she catches it with ease and throws him over her to a few inches in front of Alya and Nino.

"Chat Noir!" Alya and Nino attended to the hero while Lady Araneae laughed out loud.

"Now then, why don't you wait in the green room while I set things up." With another snap of her fingers, more spider webs rained upon them. Alya dodges back, but Nino this time was caught along with Chat Noir. They screamed as they went up, and Alya desperately tried to reach for them but failed.

"No! Chat Noir! Nino!"

"Oops~ missed one." More fingers snapped, but Alya dodged a couple of them until she felt the door behind her and ran through it. She sprinted for her life at the unrecognizable hallways, hoping no more spider webs would get her, though Lady Araneae gave up when she left the room.

"Aww, pity. Oh well, I get her when I see her. Now then, how do those things work?"

* * *

"I kept running until I was tired. I felt like things were done for until I saw you. That's everything that happened until now."

"I see. It must have been so tough for you." Ladybug pats the back of her friend's back. "Thank you Alya, You were so brave."

Alya smiles again as she nods in response. "Thank you Ladybug. Hearing you say that makes me so happy! So, what do we do know?"

"Well, now that I know the situation more, it would be dangerous for you to stay here by yourself. Let's go look for her-"

"Don't worry Ladybug! I know **exactly** where you are." Ladybug and Alya looked at the source of the shrilled voice and ran to a big tv. They see Lady Araneae waving at them; Alya recognizes the room she's in to be different than the previous one.

"Hello Ladybug. I. See. You." She says while pointing at the camera. Ladybug clutches her hands.

"Lady Araneae!"

"Oh, you learned who I am! I guess it was smart to let that little one run around then Goodie for me!"

"What did you do to Chat Noir and this girl's friend?!"

"Woah, gu-rum-pay! Don't worry though, they're safe. I also left the boy with Mr. Kitty Cat so he wouldn't be alone. See… Wait, hold on… this one?" The screen changes to the boys, who are looking around the area they're in until Chat noticed the screens.

"Ah, my lady!"

"Chaton!"

"Gasp~ nicknames! Can I have one too? How about Lady, or maybe Ara?"

"Shut up!" Nino shouts. "Stop fooling around and let everyone go!"

"Yeah! Just what are you planning anyway you… you witch?!"

"Alya!" Ladybug harshly whispers while Lady Araneae laughs.

"Oh, but that's why I'm doing this! Where's the fun in battling anyway? Too much work and sweat for little ol' me against two, well-seasoned people such as yourselves. You see, I want to give you all a chance."

"A chance? You'll give us your akumatized item then? Most appreciated then. Thank you for donating to Heroes and co." Chat Noir asks.

"Wait, since when were 'we' a company?!" Nino asks. Lady Araneae giggles.

"Unfortunately, it's not that simple as well kitty! Especially you - TADA!" No one noticed how Ladybug glared at the akuma for calling her partner 'kitty,' though it was but a passing moment when Lady Araneae hold up in her other hand Chat's weapon. Chat looked around his body as he yelled in shock before glaring at the akuma.

"Urgh! It must have been from a while ago!" Lady Araneae laughs.

"You see, if you want this these, all you have to do is find me."

"Find you? Where are you? You're not outside the studio are you?" asked Alya.

"Ouch, I'm wounded already. You're friend there is so mean. I may be evil, but I have my standards. I swear over my little purple heart that I'm in the same building as you. See?"

Lady Araneae moves to the side for the four to get a good look of the room.

"Ah, she's right" Nino says. "Look at the background - that's where Jackady appeared."

"Correct-a-mundo~ I remember that incident very well, so I thought I stay in a familiar room, but as you can see already I sort of… redecorated the place a bit! Now that you have your first clue, shall we get started?!"

"Wait, hold on a minute there, we haven't agreed to anything yet missy." Ladybug yells.

"Missy? I'M WAY OLDER THAN YOU BUGGY! HOW'S THAT FOR YOUR PEA-SIZED..." Lady Araneae's temper flares up, but then she coughs a bit before taking in a breathe. "Well, nice try Ladybug, but you should seriously reconsider my offer. After all, my mic isn't the only thing on the tightrope here. Haven't you noticed yet?"

"Hmm? Our miraculous isn't it? Even if you have my staff, I can still do fight you without it!"

"Tsk tsk tsk! Bad kitty. Then, how about this image to refresh your memory." Lady Araneae moves the camera to two people stuck on spider webs. One was her previous partner and the boy she was with, though the teens just recognized them as several of the other victims trapped by the akuma.

"Ah man, now that's just sick! It's bad enough we see them all over the place, but you also have people with you?!"

"Gotta spread it nice and evenly after all! Anyways, what do you say Ladybug? Chat Noir? If both of you can reach here by nightfall, which I'll provide this lovely sunglass here all over the tv's," she types the keyboard to show the sunglass in between the three-way screen, "then you win my mic and everyone's freedom along with it! Easy right? And if not, I'll have the miraculous and be able to the star of my very own show for the **entire** world to see! ...How about it?"

Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at their companions before looking at the screens to see each other before they smirked.

"Isn't that obvious?" Ladybug asks.

"Hmm? So you'll do it?"

"Hell yeah we'll do it! Bring it on spidey!" Chat exclaims.

"Oh-hohohohoho~ Excellent! Now the games can begin! Can't wait to feel those beautiful pieces of jewelry in my hands! Good luck~" Pressing a button, she closes the three-way and leaves the hourglass with a time underneath it. It had started in 2:00:00, and began counting down already.

"2 hours… are you sure Ladybug?" Alya asks.

"That's plenty of time" Ladybug answers, turning her back to her friend. "Let's go! We got no more time left to lose!"

"What about Chat Noir and Nino?"

"Don't worry about them. We may not be able to communicate each other, but I believe in Chat Noir. That's all."

Alya took in a breath. "I see…" Soon enough, she then smirked at the possibility of new information she can learn from her hero for the sake of her friend's love life. "Alright then, shall we head out then? The sooner we start, the faster you can save the day."

She practically skipped her way down the hallway past her hero, though Ladybug paid no attention as she followed her friend with worry. "Hold on, not so fast. We don't know what's out there."

Meanwhile, in another floor, Chat Noir and Nino had just had their transmission end.

"2 hours" Nino observes. "Should we split up?"

"No, we don't know what that akuma provided in these hallways. If she has enough power to transform this building without anyone noticing, then who knows what lies ahead. Let's stick together to minimize damage."

Chat walks up ahead, though Nino stayed in place as he looked at his travel companion. He thought of his conversation with Alya, and his theory of his best friend as the hero before him. For Nino, Chat certainly acts differently than what he knew of his best friend, but he decided to wait and observe more closely before further assumption.

"Nino, let's go!" Chat says from the distance. "We can't keep the ladies waiting for us."

"Ah, r-right, coming!" Nino runs forward, catching up to the feline hero, who starts to run with him through the dark corridors.

* * *

"Excellent" Lady Araneae hums, watching the heroes from a different set of cameras. "All is according to plan."

She turns back to her precious captives, Hilda and Todd, and slowly struts to them with a sly grin on her face.

"Soon… Soon enough, everything will be within my grasp… Who's the weakling now, you liar?"

* * *

Aria's akuma form, Lady Araneae, was based off of Sardonyx from Steven Universe, Muffet from Undertale, and Zatanna from DC Universe.


	2. Interlude

Sometime later, Ladybug and Alya are still walking through the hallway without any turns or intersections among their path.

"I don't remember this building to be this big. Or at least for this corridor."

"Yeah… makes me wonder just exactly what happen to make her like this."

"Oh, so… you do think about the face behind the akuma?"

"Of course," Ladybug calmly answers, "it's part of the job. Hawkmoth makes use of strong emotional feelings, so in that essence, the stronger the feelings the stronger the akuma's powers are. More so, seeing what kind of powers they use, I can guess more or less what happened to the victim if it's clear enough."

"So you do you perhaps know who's the… victim?"

"No. In some cases I do know the person when I see them as my civilian self, but I never met that person before, so I didn't recognize anything familiar. Although, from the things she spoke of and her actions, it seems to me she was affiliated with this studio.."

"Really?" Alya said in surprise. "Just from that conversation."

"Yeah. I'm a very observant person; I do need the skill to use Lucky Charm to its full potential."

"Ah, true" Alya remarks, thinking of all the videos she recorded on Ladybug's fights.

"Lady Araneae talked about this place as if she was very familiar about it. She probably wouldn't be able to transform this place fast and effectively if she didn't. Also, there's always something they want that makes them accept Hawkmoth's offer, and for her she said she wants her own show. Something bad must have happened to Lady Araneae, like she was fired or wasn't given enough attention like Stormy Weather."

"Urgh, I don't really want to think about that time" Alya says, shivering from the reminiscing cold of Stormy Weather's trap. "You must be good at catching things quickly both in and out of the suit there Ladybug."

"Ah, well, I wouldn't say that" Ladybug slowly remarks, looking away in hopes that Alya doesn't suspect her true identity. "I mean, at least between Chat Noir and I, one of us has to."

"Chat Noir? So he's the brawns and you're the brains?"

"Hmm, I guess. But he's pretty smart as well. Our minds are just different out here in the field, but he'll get what he wants if he tries hard enough."

"I see" Alya catches with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. He's very reliable; I'm glad I have someone like him to trust my back with."

"Oh… So, there wouldn't happen to be, I don't know, any 'other' deep meaning behind those words."

"Huh?"

"Well, haven't you ever wonder if Chat was more than just a partner? Maybe something even more?" Ladybug stops and jumps back slightly at Alya's hopeful words (at least for the aspiring reporter), too shocked for words at what her best friend is asking.

"No no no no no. No! Chat is just a good friend of mine."

"C'mon, I've seen how you two act around each other. You can totally be mistaken for a couple if it wasn't for the additional crime fighting you have to do."

"Really?" Ladybug questions as she continues to walk next to Alya.

"Totally. You should see what people talk about you two in my blog. Don't you think Chat is a good man? Smart, handsome, funny…"

"I honestly don't know how I feel about the puns, but it's seriously not like that. Our mission comes first before anything else. Including love and relationships other than our current professions."

"Please? Just one thought about him aside being hero partners? For your fans?"

"You're not even recording this. Now that I think about it, have you been recording at all for your blog?" Alya sighs.

"I wish" she dejectedly says with her head down. "Without wifi, I won't be able to record huge videos. I can't just save every awesome fighting moments with such a small memory. And I've yet to backup my most recent photos and videos because I overslept."

 _Isn't 32 GB big enough? Did she already use that much space?!_ Ladybug thought, remembering the time Alya got a new phone.

"So Ladybug, what do you think about Chat Noir as a man?"

"Alya?!"

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"PLEASE?! With a cherry on top?" Ladybug was about to answer again when she noticed sounds of movement behind them.

"Wait, be quiet. Do you hear something?" Both girls stop and listened to sounds growing closer to them.

"Is it… footsteps?" Alya asks.

"It's not as loud as I thought footsteps would be though." They decide to look back and waited. Within a few minutes, they noticed a stampede of spiders start to come their way, and never-ending.

"Oh no, not like this. Now of all times?!"

"Let's go!" Ladybug grabs hold of Alya's hand,a dn the two start sprinting ahead down the corridor. They keep running with the spiders on their trail even when obstacles begin to appear. There were pitfalls, gigantic spider webs, and even more spiders, but Ladybug manages to help evade them with her yoyo when needed.

'I hope Chat Noir and Nino are having an easier time than us' Ladybug thinks continuing down the hallway with a panicking Alya in hand.

* * *

'I hope Ladybug and Alya are having an easier time than us. Curse cliche labyrinth traps!' Chat thought as he ran with a screaming Nino. Both of them ran at full speed away from a gigantic ball from who-knows-and-who-cares-where-it-came-from.

"CHAT! CAN'T YOU USE YOUR SPECIAL MOVE OR WHATEVER!" Nino yells.

"I CAN'T! I DON'T HAVE ANY CHEESE WITH ME!"

"WHAT DOES CHEESE HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?!" Fear grows stronger in the air as the two run even faster than ever before down the corridor. Eventually, Chat notices the hallway coming to an end soon with a corner at the distance, and turns his head to his friend.

"Keep it up Nino! We're almost there!" They run around the corner when Chat notices a door nearby.

"This way!" he yells while grabbing Nino's hand. He jumps both of them through the door with a kick to another room. They roll around the floor in pain, panting, while Chat looks behind to see the ball passing by outside.

"Whew~ glad that's over" Chat sighs with a groan before he lies down again. Nino just kept lying down on his spot, still trying to catch his breath.

"Why… Why… WHY?!" Nino complains. "Where… did… she… even find… such a… thing here…"

"...Who knows… we're lucky enough to come by this place." Chat looks around as he sits up to see they were in some storage room, finding only boxes all around them. At some point, Nino sits up as well with enough rest, and looks curiously at Chat Noir.

"Hey," Nino starts with a smile, "Thanks alot."

"No problem. Always glad to be of service" Chat happily replies. Silence filled the room once again when the boys went back to their own thoughts until Nino breaks it.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here Chat Noir?"

"What? Of course to stop the akuma."

"I know that, but I mean why are you here in this studio before all of this? You appeared all of a sudden, and behind Lady Araneae of all places."

"Oh! Well… uh… to give the element of surprise of course!"

"...What are you, Black Star(1)? Does the element of surprise include you introducing yourself when you're behind the enemy?" Chat's hand twitches back.

"Well, you see, I saw her…"Chat says, though his lack of confidence in his lie didn't go unnoticed.

"You saw her?"

"Yeah! I thought I could get her, but she - she... already saw me coming! I saw her looking at me when I looked through the backdrop, so I thought I could at least stall time until Ladybug comes." Nino still didn't look like he believed him.

"Cat's honor" Chat promises, putting a hand over his hearts. "I'll stake one of my lives on it."

"Hmm… sure. If you say so." Nino says. Chat released a breath in his mind, but he still kept his guard up seeing Nino suspect who he is. He felt like he was being interrogated for a crime all of a sudden.

'Man, first the akuma then the traps, and now this. Today is just not my day.'

"So Chat," Chat Noir suddenly hears, "did you happen to see Adrien while you were there?" the hero gulped down more fear and nervousness down his throat.

"Adrien? Adrien Jolivet(2)?"

"No, Adrien Agreste. He was suppose to go on a show today when Lady Araneae came."

"Oh, that guy! Yeah, no, didn't see him." Chat quickly answers

"He was suppose to be on stage, but I didn't see him anywhere."

"Have you thought he wasn't needed on stage, but rather somewhere else? He probably headed out in the back doors in that room."

"No, I'm pretty sure I heard he was suppose to be on stage, _Chat Noir_."

"Well I didn't see him, so I'm sorry about that."

"Chat," Nino warns him. Chat wished Lady Araneae had trapped him instead.

"Would you-" Suddenly, they heard something fall behind Nino. Nino turns while Chat leans to the side to see a box fall down from its spot. Soon, another box fell with its contents spilled, and then another. They boys look up to see spiders from up above somehow pushing the boxes down on them.

"Chat!" Nino says again, but this time with as much fear as his companion. The spiders start to crawl.

"RUN!" They sprint out again, continuing down the path they were in before as a horde of spiders chased them.

"NOT AGAIN!" Nino yells.

* * *

Ladybug and Alya keep running away from the spiders, though Alya felt done as she loses speed and feels her feet burn for too long. As predicted by herself, she trips down with a thud, making Ladybug stop and turn back to her.

"Alya!"

"Ladybug, go on without me." Alya says, struggling to get up. Ladybug runs back towards her and picks Alya up.

"I won't leave you behind like this!" She finds a tv nearby to see they only have 30 minutes left. "Hang on."

Ladybug keeps running with Alya in tow. The spiders slowly start to catch up as Ladybug slows down with the additional need to jump more pitfalls. Ladybug kept looking around as she ran, hoping something around them could help them out, when she saw something coming in her view.

"Alya, hold onto me tight." Feeling Alya do what she was told, tightening her hold around the heroine's neck, Ladybug prepares her yoyo on her free hand before she sprinted to jump down the middle of a spiral staircase. Alya began to scream by the unexpected choice, but Ladybug was unfazed. She waited until the right moment where she could use her yoyo to grab onto one of the railings near the ground and pull them over to the stairs itself. As effectively as it was, despite the risks, Ladybug landed perfectly on a flat surface and looked at a stunned and scared Alya.

"Sorry about that, we should be good now. At least, for a while that is." Alya nervously chuckled.

"Hahaha- d-don't worry about me L-Ladybug. I-I'm alright."

"Are you sure?" Ladybug asks. Alya squirms a bit until Ladybug sets her down. At first, her legs felt a bit weak, but Alya somehow managed to stay upright.

"Y-yeah. See?" She nervously states. Ladybug knew how stubborn Alya was and decided to go along with it. She looks around, waiting for Alya to get used to the the feel of the ground, only to see only a door near them aside from the 2 sets of stairs going up and down.

 _Up, down, or in there? We don't have much time left._ Ladybug began to think, until Alya called for her.

"Ladybug?" the one in question whips her head around to her companion.

"Ah, sorry. Are you ready to head out now?" Alya gave a small nod.

"Yeah, it's just… I'm so sorry. You wouldn't have to worry about those spiders if it wasn't for me."

Ladybug shakes her head. "Don't worry about it. There's no way I can leave you like that."

"But-"

"Alya, you've done so much for us. I'm glad you're here instead up on a spiderweb." _You're my best friend after all._ She thought afterwards.

"Ladybug!" Alya happily chirps.

A weird sound rattles in the door behind, prompting Ladybug and Alya to look behind. Alya gulps in worry, though Ladybug stayed fearless and heads towards it.

"L-Ladybug, are you going in?! What about Chat Noir?"

"Don't worry Alya. Just stay here." Ladybug puts her hand on the handle, and was going to push it until she turned her head back one last time with a smile. "Like I said, I trust in Chat Noir. He'll definitely come, and we'll put an end to this."

Ladybug starts rushing in as Alya tries to reach for her, but holds back to follow her advice. She sighs in relief as she waits for the other hero to arrive, and decided to lean on the nearby wall when she felt something grab her. Then all went dark…

* * *

Chat and Nino run across the hallway and far away from the spiders, or so they thought. Unlike Ladybug and Alya, the boys became lost in the particular area they're in. All other doors they try to open, more spiders come out and chase them. In some turns they make, a group of spiders would also be waiting for them. At one point, Chat opens another door to see the ball that chased them instead of spiders, and immediately shuts the door before running away.

"Stop opening doors Chat!" Nino remarks.

"Oh, like you have any good ideas?!" Chat shouts back.

They keep encountering more and more spiders thereafter; some had the ability to break down the doors Chat and Nino pass by, making the two freak out from it. In the end, one turn lead them to a giant pitfall between them and a door at the end. They try to run back until the spiders show up, and then they start to walk backwards away from them till they felt the edge at the ends of their feet.

"Uhh, are those good ideas popping up in you yet?" Chat asks, looking at the spiders.

"S-Sorry, I got nothing… What'll we do now?!"

Seeing his best friend panic, Chat quickly looked around for a solution.

 _Urgh! If only I had my staff!_

Anxiety surrounded his thoughts when all he could think about was the pitfall that was behind him, but decided to just screw it all. He grabbed Nino's shoulder to grab his attention.

"Nino, do you trust me?"

"What?"

"Do you trust me or not Nino?! Hurry, or our heads may get fed at this point!"

Nino looked back and forth between him and the spiders before he hesitantly shook his head. CHat nodded, and proceeded to pick Nino above him with his hands (somehow) on Nino's back.

"WAHH! Wha- Chat?!"

"Sorry if this hurts!" Chat then threw a screaming Nino with a little bit more strength than usual over the pitfall. Nino's fear quickly turned pain and hurt from his buttocks, but slowly turned to see Chat Noir. He ran in the little space he had to one side of the other end before sprinting as he yells, ignoring the spiders almost touching him, to the other wall and wall-ran from that end to Nino's.

"W-Woah…" Nino said to himself, earning a smug grin from the hero as he watches the spiders watch them at the other end.

 _Is he really who he I think he is… then why - why does he seem so different then?_ part of Nino wanted to think Chat was his best friend, but then he had no idea what to think as he bit his lip.

He looks back up; in all honestly, he was scared if Chat was Adrien, because then it would mean he continuously keeps risking his life with Ladybug. Chat was witty, strong, and sometimes dumb. Not always thinking straight and going for the gun, yet when he tries he does it, and does everything he can to get what he wants.

It was different from the Adrien he knew. The reserved, and sometimes quiet boy with a love of physics and admires their other hero Ladybug. The one who he grew to understand how lonely he was, and how cool yet fun he can be with despite the fact he grew up very similarly like Chloe (of course they were two different people with opposite personalities, but then they grew up together so Nino couldn't completely ignore it). Nino liked being with Adrien. He was glad to be his friend. He also liked Chat Noir just as equally as Ladybug for their passion to stop akumas.

It's not that there would be any consequence if he was right. Adrien would most likely just shrug it off, then everything would be as usual. But if he was… everything would change. He would have a reason to keep his identity a secret; he wasn't dumb to know that after all the comic books he read. Still, he had his doubts his he want to learn, because then it made him feel like he never knew truly knew Adrien as he keeps looking at the boy - no, at **the man** before him.

 _Then what have I've been doing this entire time? Am… am I that weak…_

"Are you ok?" Nino hears Chat ask. He gasp, but decided to lower his head again, feeling ashamed to look at him.

"Yeah." He saw Chat hold out his hand, and decided to take his offer after a short moment back in his thoughts.

"Thanks Chat" he bluntly replies; Chat didn't seem to notice the implied sad tone in his words.

"No problem. Shall we?" He point to the door and calmly walks to it without a worry. Nino just watches his back slowly getting smaller, curling his hands into fists.

"Um, Chat Noir?"

"Yeah?" Chat answers, turning back to his friend.

"Chat… Why do you do this? Why did you decide to fight?"

"Eh, why?" Nino nods.

"Hmm, well…" Chat scratches the back of his head. "For my lady of course!"

"Chat…"

"Ah, hold on, it's not technically a lie. I swear!" Chat waves his hands, trying to defend himself. "It's just, I do like fighting and helping Ladybug, but there is more to that than it sees." Nino expectantly stares at Chat.

"I... I like the freedom that comes with this job. Some parts of my life just felt restricting to me - like I wasn't allowed to be myself. They are people that allow me to, but with this mask, I don't feel that restriction. No one knows who I am, so I can do whatever I want, or at least much more than what I can do as my normal self. You could say I'm somewhat addicted to it."

"No, I understand to a certain extent. I know someone who could use that bit of freedom in his life. Heck, sometimes I do as well."

"Heh- Isn't it what everyone wants? To be free to be who they are without any worries. Still, I didn't just accept this position because of this freedom. I also chose it for this city, because I love it. There are so many memorable things I witnessed and became a part of here. Some of the most important people in my life love this city, and I as well love this city. I want to help protect it, along with them - the ones who love and want to protect this city."

"...Like Ladybug?"

"Yeah" Chat answers with ease. "That's one of the many things I love about her!"

"...Well, we shouldn't keep the ladies waiting then." He walks forward, past Chat Noir. "You should hurry up to your lady in particular, or she'll be fighting Lady Araneae all by herself."

"You don't need to remind me!" They walk through the door to a set of stairs, along with a tv near the start to see they have 10 minutes left. Through this, they ran again up the stairs for sometime until they saw a door around halfway of the staircase. Nino panted while Chat, because of his enhanced endurance, looked around the area before putting his ear(s) against the door.

"Sounds quiet… S-Should we?" Chat asks, not wanting any more spiders to appear.

"Your call dude." Nino answers. Chat looks up, then down, thinking before turning back.

"I- I'm going to open it."

"...Alright. Let's go."

* * *

(1) Refers to one of the main characters of the manga Soul Eater, Black Star. For those who haven't read it yet (which I recommend) or don't read manga, let's just say he's a loud ninja. That's just as spoiler free as I can get in this reference.

(2) Adrien Jolivet is a french actor and composer. Honestly, I just searched up famous actors with the same first name as Adrien. :P


	3. End

"Alright. Let's go." With a nod, Chat enters first by bursting through, getting his claws ready in a martial arts stance as an alternative for his missing weapon. He waited until nothing appeared and motioned Nino to enter inside. Nino slowly enters in while Chat scouts the room more.

"Nothing?"

"No, it's weird. It's too quiet here."

"C-Chaton?!" a voice cries out later. Nino and Chat Noir turn to see Ladybug and Alya on a spider web behind them. They couldn't see them because of the walls that covered the sides when they entered in.

"My lady!/Ladybug!" Chat and Nino say at the same time.

"Get out of here! Now, before it's too late!" Alya yells

"No, I'm not leaving you like that! Hang on you two, we're coming!"

"No! Stop Chat Noir! Don't- WATCH OUT!" She yells, but it was too late. As Chat and Nino tried to run towards the girls, they turn back when they hear a familiar laugh until they were hit by spider silk shots, forcing them back to the same spider web as Ladybug and Alya. Getting rid of the stunning feeling from the surprise attack, Chat was the first to notice it was because of Lady Araneae as she walks towards them while skillfully twirling his staff and her mic in both hands.

"Well well well, if it isn't the boys now. Congratulations Ladybug, Chat Noir, you both won the bet! Good job on finding this room!"

"Shut up" Alya yells. "You planned this all along didn't you?! Me and Ladybug just had a straight line to here while you had your minions hurry our pace by chasing us!"

"Huh- explains why all the rooms we opened except for the last door were all dead ends" Chat Noir follows up.

"Oh ho-ho-ho- I have no idea what you're talking about there girly. I would have won if both of your heroes here didn't make it in 3 minutes, but it's not like any of that matter. Wasn't that fun?"

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?! You mean you were never going to give up your mic at all?!" Nino yells.

"Of course not! What kind of a dumb-bell do you think I am?! I ain't some 'chivalrous' wannabees like Ugly-bug or Doggy here, or all the other helpless loser like you two Mr. Stu and Ms. Pid."

"Uh, you may want to get your eyes check there o' evil hag. I'm suppose to be a cat. It's in the name after all."

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR NAME IS! WHAT MATTERs NOW IS THAT BOTH OF YOUR MIRACULOUS,' AND THIS STUDIO, ARE MINE NOW! YOU LOST!"

"You'll never get away with this" Ladybug retorts. "Are you even sure you want to do this?! Will you be happy like this?"

"Hmph, happiness. As if that ever mattered in this world" Lady Araneae answers with a serious tone for once.

"In this world, there's only the strong and the weak. The strong will always trample the weak; that's the natural law of this world." She adds, slowly walking near the spider web as her minions rush to her with a commanding word on her mic. They lift her up around her feet until her face was inches away from Ladybug. "How does it feel being the weakling here, disappointing everyone, including those two, when you failed to catch the akuma right before your eyes?"

"Am I? Am I really?" Ladybug confidently says, unfazed by Lady Araneae's words, who gave her a dangerous stare back.

"Even if I'm the one stuck here, I didn't make it here through someone else's help alone. I was able to make it here with my own strength."

"Hmph, so what? You still depended on your companion there for help."

"Of course, because I trust her. Because I know and admit, unlike you, that I am a weakling."

"What?"

"You should probably get your ears checked as well. I. AM. A WEAKLING. AND I'M PROUD OF THAT!" Ladybug yells. "I never made it all this way alone, and I am ok with that. I trust in the faith of the citizens! I trust in my trust with my friends and family! I trust in the power and strength of my partner! No matter what, even when I thought I shouldn't be Ladybug because of my mistakes, they believed in me!"

 _Ladybug!_ All three of them thought. Chat, in particular, felt very worried about what Lady Araneae is about to do as he struggles to give his one hand more freedom.

"Don't you get it already! It's over! IT'S ALL OVER FOR YOU!" Lady Araneae screeches. "YOU'RE DONE FOR! YOU WILL FROM HERE ON OUT LOSE EVERYTHING FOREVER BECAUSE OF ME!"

"No. It still isn't over yet until I am no longer able to be Ladybug, and even then I'll still fight because I'm not alone. But you," Ladybug remarks, looking over Lady Araneae and her shocked and angry face one last time, "You're just depending on someone else in the end."

"Shut it."

"You don't want to believe in anybody other than yourself as you cling onto your so-called happiness!"

"Shut up."

"You'll be the one who's weak because you're all alone, AND YOU NEVER WANT TO ACCEPT THAT FACT!"

"SHUT UP! WHO CARES ABOUT OTHERS?! THEY'LL JUST DRAG YOU DOWN WHEN YOU THINK YOU CAN TRUST THEM! YOU, AND EVERYTHING ELSE YOU CARE ABOUT LIKE IT'S NOTHING - LIKE IT'S ALL JUST SOME CREEPY SPIDER IN THE CORNER THAT NO ONE WANTS!"

"...That's how you've felt then, all this time?" Ladybug softly whispers as she sees Lady Araneae gasp, "Lady Araneae, I-"

"NOOOO! NOT AGAIN! I WON'T FALL FOR IT THIS TIME AGAIN!" Lady Araneae scratches Ladybug on the cheek, enticing the rest of the the prisoners to scream in worry for the heroine. Ladybug slowly looks back, gasping when she sees the akuma raise her hand to next snatch her miraculous.

"GOODBYE LADYBUG! THIS TIME- THIS TIME, I'LL BE THE WINNER! I'LL BE THE STRONGEST OF THEM ALL!"

Alya and Nino look away, unable to watch what's happening any further. Chat keeps on moving his hand in one last attempt to turn the tables. Finally, Ladybug looks at Lady Araneae head-on despite her incoming fears, confidently standing by her beliefs. Inches away Lady Araneae's hand was until it stopped by an unknown sound in the distance. Ladybug, too focused on what's in front of her, couldn't hear it until a third time as she calmed down, listening to a man's voice calling at the other side of the big studio.

* * *

"STOP, ARIA!" Ladybug hears him. Lady Araneae surprises Ladybug by turning around, more so when she hears her whisper 'Todd' in the air.

"STOP THIS ARIA! THIS ISN'T WHO YOU ARE!"

"Q-Q-QUIET YOU! W-WHO'S ARIA?!" She responds back. "I'm… I'M THE STRONGEST OF EVERYONE HERE - LADY ARANEAE HERSELF!"

"NO YOU'RE NOT! WAKE UP ARIA! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!"

"AS IF YOU KNOW ME AT ALL YOU PEASANT-"

"ARIA, YOU'RE NOT HILDA! YOU WERE NEVER HER IN THE FIRST PLACE! WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO BE LIKE HER? IT'S NOT WORTH IT!"

"OF COURSE I'M NOT HER! DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME!"

"YES, ALL OF IT! BUT NO MATTER WHAT, IT'S NO BETTER THAN WHAT HILDA DID TO YOU ARIA!" Lady Araneae flinches. Ladybug sees one of her hands twitch and looks to her with sadness, getting to understand why she turned to Hawkmoth.

"P-Please, who cares about that skank?! WHO CARES WHAT YOU WANT IN THIS?! NOW SHUT UP, OR I'LL MAKE YOU!"

"GO AHEAD, I WON'T STAY QUIET ANYMORE! WHERE'S THE GIRL WHO WANTED TO MAKE A CHANGE?! THE ONE WHO SELFLESSLY HELPED THOSE IN NEED EVEN WHEN SHE ALREADY HAD HER HANDS FULL FROM HER JOB THAT SHE WHOLEHEARTEDLY LOVED?!"

"SHUT UP!" Lady Araneae jumps down from her spider tower and runs to the one named Todd, dropping Chat's staff to prepare her claws. Though the teens couldn't see him, Todd at first hesitated to continue, but was still inspired by Ladybug's words when he woke up.

"WHERE'S THE KIND AND GENTLE GIRL I FELL FOR WHEN WE ENTERED THIS STUDIO TOGETHER?!" Midway, Lady Araneae stopped. She looked like she froze in that moment, too stunned by what Todd had just confessed.

"Wh- Wha?!" Lady Araneae suddenly blushes. Everyone awake simply stayed still and watched them except for one feline hero, who persisted through to free his hand.

"I- I love you Aria, and I'm sorry I didn't defend you earlier. I regret it all because I was just too scared at what Hilda will do, but I wanted to talk to you again when I was away from Hilda until all of this happened."

"N-No… That's- Y-You liar…"

"I'm not lying! Please trust me Aria?!"

"Y-You…" Ladybug mumbles. Meanwhile, Chat finally freed his hand with a small 'yes.'

"...Why should I?" La… Aria asks, dropping to the ground on her knees. Tears start to drop from her face, but her expression did not match her feelings - as if she never noticed the tears at all. "All of them, including you, would just leave me again. -sniff- Everyone I care about would never want to be around someone small and insignificant like me…"

"That's not true." Todd retorts with a gentle voice. "I care about you,and I'll never leave you."

"Todd…"

"CATACLYSM!" Chat Noir shouts. He uses it on the spider web, effectively freeing himself and everyone else trapped with him. Ladybug lands on the ground and runs to the akuma with her yoyo prepped and ready.

Aria sees Ladybug running to her; she was completely aware of what's happening behind her, but instead decided to sadly look at Todd. She closed her eyes, prepared for her fate as Ladybug jumps and snatches the mic before she rolled away. The battle ends with a quick snap of the item and the shout of "Miraculous Ladybug!" thereafter. Slowly, the building and Aria reverted back to their original state, and all the victims trapped were back in their original positions except for Alya, Nino and Todd.

* * *

"Uhh… Huh?" Aria slowly comes to as she looks around in confusion. "W-Where… What happened?"

"Hi there." Ladybug says, walking towards Aria.

"Ah, Ladybug! I- Did i perhaps-"

"Aria" Todd unknowingly says outloud. Aria notices him behind Ladybug and slowly remembers what happened.

"I- I- Oh no."

"Aria." Todd walks up to them, but Aria stands up and bows before she ran away. He immediately runs after her out of the studio, calling for her again, while Ladybug watches them pass her.

"Good luck" she says. Chat, Alya and Nino run to Ladybug.

"Ladybug! Are you ok?!" Alya worriedly asks. Ladybug nods.

"Don't worry, I'm ok."

"I'm- I'm so sorry my lady" Chat says with a sullen look. "If only I got my hand out earlier, or paid more attention to my surroundings."

"Chaton." Ladybug later smiles, putting a hand on her partner. "You still managed to free us."

"But-"

"And you came. I knew you would. Thank you Chat Noir. I'm glad you're my partner."

"Wh- What?! Where did this come from?!"

"Hehe" Ladybug giggles. "Don't worry about it." She gave a wink towards Alya, who winks back. Chat didn't noticed to who though, and makes his usual smug grin.

"Ah~ I feel so loved my lady! Mew will always have my heart bugaboo." Chat tries to hug Ladybug, but she rolls her eyes and pushes him back.

"Stop with the puns Chat, and I didn't mean it like that."

"You know you love me and my puns my lady. You're my 'butter' half after all."

"Chat."

"You're so dear to my Ladybug."

"Chat!"

"You have me all spun up in your beautiful web of eyes."

"CHAT NOIR, STOP IT!" Ladybug shouts, feeling embarrassed for once since Alya and Nino were watching them. Part of her blames Alya for earlier, but it didn't stop Chat to keep on telling her love puns as she tries to stop him. Amongst the bickering, Alya and Nino start their own conversation at the side.

"You ok there Nino?"

"Yeah" he nods. "That was a close call back there."

Alya also nods back, but she soon turns back to the doors that the two people ran out through. "I hope he gets her. They seem good for each other."

"I agree. Hopefully they will." They turn back to the arguing masked partners with a smile.

"Did you find out in the end? If Adrien's that same Chat Noir in front of us?" Alya asks. Nino simply stared at the pair, but he nodded, showing he heard her.

"Nah, and I think that's for the best."

"Hmm? If Adrien is Chat Noir?"

"Well yes, but also just whoever Chat is in the end."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah. You were right - all of these things reporters do for information is tough, but so is being a hero. I'll just respect not just Chat Noir, but also Ladybug's decision. They still have a lot to do in their hands, so I'll just support them whenever I can if I'm able to."

"I see. I respect that," Alya answers, "but I guess part of me still can't stay still who they are, so I guess I'll just look for that answer on my own than - starting with Ladybug."

"Hahaha- of course her first."

"I like Chat Noir; it's just that my curiosity is leaning more towards Ladybug than Chat."

"Ok, if you say so" Nino defends himself. They stay silent for a moment till Alya breaks it once again.

"Although, I think you can be certain of this one as well Nino."

"Hmm? Certain of what?"

"If Ladybug and Chat Noir can possibly care each other in 'that' way."

"That… Oh~" They see Ladybug wave goodbye to Chat Noir, both of them smiling at each other, before Chat NOir turns to them and waves at them. They wave back as he leaves to transform back while Ladybug walks to them.

"Sorry about him. Seems like he has something he has to get back to quickly."

"No worries Ladybug, we understand" Nino answer back.

"You going as well Ladybug?" Alya asks. Ladybug nods.

"I also have something I need to do. You two take care ok?" They say yes to her before she left. They watch her leave with her yoyo to who-knows-where with a smile on their faces.

"Oh yeah, totally" Nino casually answers back. "They certainly will make a good couple if they realize it's mutual."

"Yeah hopefully soon. Now Marinette sure has a chance with Adrien!"

"Don't be certain yet there Alya. That's another mystery to solve, especially with the fact that my pal's dense around love."

"Hmph, he just has to realize my best friend likes him. If I can deal being chased by minion spiders, I can deal with them as well."

"...Really? Ladybug didn't just carry you here?" Nino skeptically asks. Alya knew it was true (at least in the near end), but nevertheless punches Nino's arm before going back to Adrien and Marinette.

* * *

Around a week or so passes by since that incident. Marinette walks around Paris and relaxes as she takes in the sights with her mind's camera. Tikki opens the purse and talks to her.

"Today's a nice day, isn't it Marinette?"

"Yeah! It sure is beautiful today." Marinette turns a corner and keeps on walking causally.

"...Did you ever hear about what happened to Lady Araneae?" Tikki asks.

"You mean Ms. Aria?" Marinette asks, getting a nod as a response through the corner of her eyes. "No, although it seemed like Mr. Todd never caught up to her when I saw him while Adrien was on stage."

"I see… It's just, seeing them like that, I hoped they finally understood each other."

"I hoped so as well Tikki" Marinette agrees. "It just, I think Ms. Aria was just too much regret about turning into an akuma that she couldn't face him anymore."

"Guess only time will be able to heal a wounded heart." Both of them nod with small sad looks when Marinette feels herself suddenly getting bumped out to the side. Marinette falls and rubs her head, checking Tikki in her purse soon after to see she was ok as well. She looks in front of her to recognize Aria with a new haircut getting out of shock, as well as some flyers on the floor which Marinette picks up..

"Oh I'm so sorry there. Here, let me help you there." Aria stands up, dusting herself before helping Marinette up and taking the flyers afterwards.

"Thank you so much. Are you hurt?" She asks.

"No, I'm ok."

"I see. That's good to hear. Here, take this" Aria says while handing out one of the flyers she dropped. "This is a flyer with discounts to the makeup boutique I work at. I work around 3-8 pm on weekdays except Wednesdays, so if you find me I'll give some free makeup in return."

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly-"

"No I insist" Aria shakes her head as well.

"But-"

""It's the least I can do. Really"

"Well… Sure. Why not, I guess." Marinette shrugs.

"Great! I hope I'll see you then. Have a good day." Aria bows and walks past Marinette. Marinette, on the other hand, watches her go while Tikki opens the bag again.

"She sure is different than she was as Lady Araneae" Marinette remarks.

"Yeah" Tikki nods. "But at least she's seems happy at least."

Marinette continues to watch with a sigh until she looks down to Tikki. "Hey Tikki, do you think they'll ever meet each other again?"

"...I think so." Tikki replies with a smile. "They're fated to be together."

"Really? That sounds a bit lame though, like from a romance show."

"Tikki, the protector of love and justice!" She teases.

Marinette laughs when something catches her attention behind her. She turns back to see Todd once again meeting Aria as he grabs her from escaping. Marinette gasps as she watches the two reconcile with a hug and tears, smiling after seeing Aria smile after all that had happened to her.

"See?" Tikki remarks while giggling. Marinette joins her while walking away.

"I guess so. Hey protector of love and justice, you think I'll also have my chance too with Adrien?"

"If you try hard enough of course." The two laugh along the way, relishing in the ending of the happy couple, and unaware of another pair, a boy and his kwami (though he was asleep for all of it), watching the couple as well.

* * *

" _Always believe in yourself. Do this, and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear."_

 _\- Baron from Studio Ghibli's "The Cat Returns"_


End file.
